Villas-Boas had already moved to strengthen Spurs' options during the summer. However, the arrival of players such as Paulinho, Etienne Capoue, Nacer Chadli, Vlad Chiriches, Erik Lamela and Christian Eriksen as well as the £26m striker Roberto Soldado could not stop his new-look side from slumping to defeat in the north London derby at Arsenal before the international break.

With everyone now set to refocus on matters at hand, Villas-Boas believes there are plenty of reasons to be positive following two wins from the first three Premier League matches and qualification for the group stage of the Europa League.

"It was a transfer which took so much time to resolve, but it gives us the possibility to focus on what is our work from now on," Villas-Boas told TalkSport. "We just have to continue winning. After the defeat at Arsenal, we want to be back alongside the top teams. Most of them have lost points though, apart from Liverpool, but we want to be in the mix, so it [Norwich] is a game we have to win.

"There is a long way to go and the objective is to get the most amount of points possible. Losing to Arsenal is always difficult for us, so we want to bounce back as soon as possible. The calendar dictated the timing of the match and for us it was fine either way. Now it has already gone by and it does not change the importance of the Norwich game either way – we have to win just the same, so that is where our focus will be."

Spurs had plenty of players away on international duty this week, with Argentina's Lamela and Brazil's Paulinho not expected back until later on Thursday following their long-haul flights back from South America. Villas-Boas, though, hopes the gruelling schedule will not have had too much of an impact on the squad. He added: "We will just have to wait and see how they arrive, but most of them should arrive OK because we have not had any reports of injury."

The defender Jan Vertonghen was part of the Belgium squad – which also included his Spurs team-mates Chadli and Moussa Dembélé – that moved a step closer to qualification for Brazil 2014 with a 2-0 win over Scotland at Hampden Park. Vertonghen believes having so many players involved at top domestic teams has helped boost Belgium's competitiveness on the international stage as Marc Wilmots's side aim to reach a first World Cup since 2002.

He said on the club's website: "We have a strong mentality now. The pressure is there because we have big players at big clubs, a lot of pressure from the press and from ourselves as well, because we have never been to a tournament. I think we can deal with it as well."